Stock Photos: Where I find mine

When I started my online existence, many years ago, the only photographs I used were my own, haphazardly taken on my mobile phone or the occasional holiday shot. I’m sure I’m not alone in that.

Nowadays, I do, on occasion, use my own photos, but for the most part I reach out to the people who do this kind of thing professionally, supplying stock photos, either free or paid for.

Paid For

The first company I came across when I began my search for stock photos was iStock.

Their photos are royalty-free so as long as I adhere to the conditions of the related license, I can pretty much use them how I wish. iStock supply a wide range of photos, illustrations and videos and I’ve never failed to find what I want on their site.

Free

More recently, I’ve come across a lot of stock photo suppliers who provide their photos for free. Some of these businesses charge for a section of their photos while offering free ones as well. Other businesses offer a completely free service.

The selections offered by each of these are generally smaller than that offered by iStock but with the increasing number of stock photo providers out there, I can usually find what I want if I search a number of these websites.

If you do use free stock photos though, make sure that you adhere to the related usage conditions. Some of the photos will ask for an attribution link (basically, a link back to their website or at least a mention of where the photo came from), while others ask for a cup of coffee or sometimes nothing at all.

In my search for beautiful stock photos, I came across two membership sites that offer free stock photos, regardless of whether you join up as a member, although obviously membership provides you with even more free stock photos. These are:

Apart from one photo (so far) on this website, all the others are stock photos from one of the above suppliers because as a freelance writer, I just don’t have the time to stage and take beautiful photos like the ones in the image at the top of this blog post. I’m too busy writing.

What about you? Where do you source the photos for your business from?